It has long been recognized that it is difficult to ship delicate and perishable items--such as horticultural items--for long distances. It is for this reason that a substantial business has grown up, namely, the business of ordering flowers from a florist at a first location and having them delivered by a second florist at a remote location. Florists who are involved in this particular part of the floral industry often advertise "Flowers Wired Worldwide," which a shorthand way of saying that the florist is a participant in a large network of florists, each of whom will deliver flowers to a recipient based upon the order of a customer who agrees to pay for the flowers at the originating shop. In practice, a customer usually selects a particular flower arrangement at a first shop, either by looking at actual arrangements or photographs in a catalog. The customer then pays for the arrangement at the first shop, expecting that an exact copy of the arrangement will be created and subsequently delivered by a second florist. The fee received by the first florist is then split with the second florists in accordance with some prearranged formula. In this manner, a customer in New York can order a particular arrangement and then have a California florist deliver it on a "local" basis to a nearby recipient. This procedure is often followed when an occasion arises in which it is customary to send flowers to someone, and there is relatively short notice to the sender--so that a person doesn't have time to write or make lengthy negotiations about quality, quantity, delivery schedules, or price. Examples of these occasions include births, deaths, major accomplishments, marriages, promotions, and reaching goals that have been long sought after (such as graduating from a school or obtaining one's pilot's license).
Of course, these long-distance business arrangements have the potential for several kinds of problems, some of which are more or less self-imposed by people in the industry. A customer in New York may never get to talk directly to the florist in California; rather the New York customer often talks only to the New York florist, and then the two florists talk with one another, using whatever "insider" language is pertinent for communicating the order, etc. And, of course, a great deal of trust must exist in this kind of situation; the New York customer must have the confidence that the money that is being paid in New York will somehow produce a flower arrangement in California that matches the expectations that were hatched in New York. But even if the quantity, color, style and quality of cut flowers or plants turn out to be what was expected, there is always the problem of sending along a card, letter or personal greeting. Messages from a sender to a recipient often have to be kept short and simple, because the message that is dictated where the flowers are ordered must eventually be transcribed where the flowers are to be delivered. Names like "Marianne" in New York can accidentally turn out to be "Mary Ann" in California etc. And a marriage proposal dictated in one place may not be quite as romantic if the local florist who is delivering the flowers never graduated from penmanship school and has to print the message.
It follows, therefore, that there has existed a long-felt need for a person to be able to select in a first place the exact flower arrangement that is to be delivered to a recipient at a remote place--perhaps even all the way across the country. And there has also existed a need to be able to personally script a message that will arrive with the flowers that constitute the featured attraction for a dramatic message. Fortunately, there has arisen over the past several years a means for effecting delivery of things on a rapid basis, whether from city to city or state to state. Delivery services such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service, Airborne Express and others have now essentially perfected their ability to move packages across the country in a short period of time--often overnight. So if a way could only be devised to safely package flowers and other horticultural items, at least procedures are already in place in the United States to quickly deliver those items, so that they would not dry out and/or deteriorate while they are in transit.
It is not meant to suggest, however, that no attention has been devoted to the packaging and shipping of cut flowers and other horticultural items. Indeed, there has been significant effort in this field, and several U.S. patents have issued to various inventors on their respective designs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,046 to Miller entitled "Horticultural Transport Receptacle" teaches a combination that functions both as a shipping container and a display device, once the container has arrived at its destination. U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,572 to Harris entitled "Method and Package for Fresh Cut Flower Arrangements and Plant" discloses a very sophisticated package for shipping flowers and a vase, provided that the vase has an external configuration that is compatible with the special die cut cardboard pieces that fit inside the package. And U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,598 to Angeles et al. entitled "Plant Package" discloses a multi-compartment container with different degrees of permeability and vapor transmission, so that a plant or the like might last several days in shipment provided that a trained person is responsible for correctly effecting the necessary seals, etc.
It is an object of this invention, however, to provide a shipping container and method of using it that does not rely on sophisticated vapor barriers and like, so that a plant might last for many days. Instead, the invention to be disclosed herein relies on the speed of an already established delivery system to quickly get a shipping container to its destination, and provides a mechanism to protect the item being shipped from the effects of what might politely be called a less-than-delicate handling style. That is, if there were suitable trucks or air freight containers that were designed for shipping individual boxes of flowers, and if those carriers were criss-crossing the country every night, and if the persons handling those boxes were all gentle spirits, then it might be possible to ship flowers without concern about their arrival condition. But it is not a perfect world. And if we had any hope that a flower container would arrive at its destination without having been bumped, jostled, shaken and even turned upside down, a brief visit to a regional shipping depot might give us cause for concern. So recognizing that bad things can happen to good packages, it is an object of this invention to compensate for the possibility that bad things may happen, and to create a shipping container that will take accidental abuse and still make the trip with its contents intact.
It is another object to create a shipping container for horticultural items that can be purchased and used by essentially anyone, including those who do not have either special dexterity or special tools.
A further object is to provide a shipping container that can be used with a wide variety of vases, to increase the opportunities for a purchaser who is looking for just the "fight" vase to match just the fight floral arrangement.
These and other objects will be apparent from the description below, together with reference to the several figures of the drawing that are provided herewith.